About Colin Nelson

Colin T. Nelson worked for 40 years as a prosecutor and criminal defense lawyer in Minneapolis. He tried everything from speeding tickets to first degree murder. His writing about the courtroom and the legal system give the reader a "back door" view of what goes on, what's funny, and what's a good story. He has also traveled extensively and includes those locations in his mysteries. Some are set in Southeast Asia, Ecuador,Peru, and South Africa. Readers get a suspenseful tale while learning about new places on the planet. Colin is married, has two adult children, and plays the saxophone in various bands.

Free Health Care for Criminals?

Think about it—you pay for Obamacare (or your employer pays), you have high deductibles ($1,000-$2,000), you pay for a big portion of your free health care criminalsdental care, and you even pay for co-pays ($25-$60) each time you have one of your kid’s ears checked for a winter infection. Would you agree to free health care for criminals?

Most of us …

Boston Bomber Trial–5 Things to Watch For

The man accused of setting off a bomb at the Boston Marathon, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, has finally started trial in a federal courtroom in Boston. boston bomber trial I’m sure you remember that he and his older brother, Tamerlin, (who died shortly after the blast and a police man-hunt) are both implicated in the detonating of a pressure cooker filled with deadly …

With a Serial Killer

Over my many years of prosecuting and defending criminal, I’ve represented a few serial killers in my days.  No matter how much everyone in serial killersthe system tries to treat these cases as “just another crime” and not put undue attention on them, they are different.  The killers are a different type of criminal.

I’m certainly not a psychiatrist, …

Men Killing a Domestic Partner

killing domestic partner A few years ago, I represented a young man who was accused of killing his domestic partner—his wife when he came home and found her with another man.  Not only was he accused, he was guilty!!  The young man, Jerry, came into their apartment and jumped onto to wife who still lay on the living room couch.  (Couldn’t …

Is Law Enforcement Profiling Bad??

law enforcement profilingThe Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder, stated recently that “We’re going to stop law enforcement from profiling once and for all!”

What is profiling?  Is it really bad?  Here are four thoughts from all the years I’ve worked as both a prosecutor and Public Defender.

Profiling means that citizens are stopped by law enforcement—not because …

Who Decides–Client or Lawyer?

When a lawyer represents an accused person, which choices are reserved for the lawyer and which ones for the client?plea bargain

Of course, in any lawyer/client relationship the people involved will determine who makes the decisions.  However, in criminal cases there are two main decisions that only the client can make—

1.  The decision to plead guilty or to …

What Are Specialty Courts?

People constantly complain about the long delays in court proceedings—and it’s true.  There are many reasons why this happens.  But one of specialty courtsthe biggest problems is there are too many cases and too few resources for people coming through the courts.  What can we do?

In the largest, busiest counties there has been a break-through toward handling this …